Lupita Nyong’o Is the Ultimate Hair Chameleon: 15 Times She Transformed Her Look

Since Lupita Nyong’o flashed onto our radar with her Oscar-winning turn in 12 Years a Slave, she has remained a steady style fixture with her talent, her grace, and her chameleonic beauty risks. To put it plainly, no one is having more fun with her hair. “She likes to change it up—she loves to be different [characters],” says New York City hairstylist Ted Gibson, who has been working with the actress for the past two years and, within that brief window, has seen her transition from a closely cropped length to the waist-length braids she’s currently wearing. “Bright colors, short cuts, extensions, and shapes: That’s what I love about working with her. She knows what she wants.”

And with good reason. Her understanding of her own coif stems from her years as an undergraduate at Amherst, Massachusetts’s Hampshire College, where she took up braiding her friends’ hair as a self-proclaimed “side hustle” in case the acting thing didn’t work out. “Your hair is your frame, it's so important,” Nyong’o told Vogue last summer, while demonstrating her forte for Bantu knots and dookie braids on camera. If styling hair didn’t become her career, it certainly gave her a leg up on the red carpet. Through the addition of a headband, the adjustment of a part, or the twist of a few strands, each time she steps out for an event, she manages to surprise and delight.

Gibson recalls that one of his favorite envelope-pushing moments occurred at last year’s Met Gala. “Normally if you see an A-list actress of color, her hair [will be] brown or black. [That night, her] hair was purple [with] an interesting ’40s roll that was toward the side.” For the SAG Awards, they decided on a Grace Jones–inspired flat top, only a little softer. “That feeling creates a strong, determined woman,” says Gibson. “And she won.” For the subtlest shift at the 2014 Critics’ Choice Awards, the duo toyed around with a widow’s peak. “I used hair fiber to create a new shape at the hairline. It’s architectural—very sexy and really thought-provoking. Out of the box.”

After looking through 15 of the actress’s best hair moments, we can only imagine the kind of range she’ll find in the “more romantic, girl next door” braids she’s been enjoying this summer. Because when it comes to Nyong’o and hair, the possibilities are endless.